Category Archives: little languages

hearting

Posted on December 10, 2008 by | 11 comments

today i took my first and second anatomy classes ever! and no-one managed to accidentally dissect off their own fingers either. no fainting, and i think they all did well. we did have some ground rules – if you stopped wanting to do it, stop doing it and tell me. if you want me to do it and show you, tell me, and when you’ve ‘found something’ let me tell you what it is. so we found lots of things. I just managed without gloves as there was only enough for kids by going ‘in role’ and that way i could also block out the smell of the abbatoir! not that i have ever been in one, but still… since the majority of the kids were veggies like me i think we all have a pat on the back. but they did all seem to v much enjoy it, and they found everything. we only had one leaver, and that was after everything found, and i think the smell was becoming a bit much. hopefully no nightmares… the littlies did other stuff as well with listening to hearts etc, and i must listen to one of them again, as well as getting the biguns to do it. this is a rather fab website with various sounds on it, as is this one, and i will revise before next week!.

Michelle kindly took all the pictures this time, as my hands were somewhat too mucky for the camera – though actually they didn’t make much mess at all [to my surprise]. hopefully i will get a juicy big email of them, or something!! ANyway, the piece de resistance came at the end, as one had a lung attached and most people had a go at inflating it with a straw. [ady mr health and safety prob wouldn't think this such a good idea, but they each had their own straw!] anyway, c and SB inflated one side fully to everyone’s delight. i def did not want a go – yuk!

we cleared it all away and opened windows and doors, and maybe i should have taken a scented candle, but the smell did dissipate, and thanks katy for hosting something that wasn’t particularly pleasant! the biguns did latin – sb said it was chapter 4, and v happy with that, and the littlies did french – bb even stayed in the french, which made life easier for me.

J had made a fab cake to celebrate gina’s birthday, so we sang to her and enjoyed the cake! some playing and we came home to find the loft insulators leaving – hoping to cut down on a few bills. must put up the curtains for doors as well.

SB had a brownies party and then received her judo certificate. I have to say the judo cert is fab. i must photo and flickr. it is a work of art [and free]. i am still migrainous, but settling, so back to work tomorrow, so i must do some stuff for work [hence early blog, as a distraction!]

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, early maths skills, General, language, little languages, online resources, pre reading, SB-PE, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

A post with some HE in it!

Posted on December 10, 2008 by | 1 comment

it looks like it has been a while :blush: . luckilly, some HE has been going on!! SB has done a fair bit of maths, piano practice and handwriting, and a bit of spelling and music theory. she has read her new usborne books on samurai and aztecs and crusaders. She as also read hundreds [ok i exaggerate] of library books, done a lizard picture for sketch tuesday.
on Sat SB had her judo party, and really enjoyed the disco, and we have some fab photos at some point to flikr [well behind on helmsley though] and she has had a swimming lesson today and an HE playdate yesterday.
BB has carried on with loads of letter writing, some maths – she is considering how adding works at the moment. i really must remember her phraseology! she is deciding whether it makes sense anyway. but what if i add 2 things? will it still be 6?? [after 5 plus 1]. and also poisson rouging, jigsawing and crafting – an angel at library crafts, and painting all the animal picture frames she got as a birthday present. she wants to do recordering and music theory too now. there is no holding her!
we have as a family read some french books and had some french conversations – bb suspiciously asking – are you doing that in french again :roll: [ :lol: ] mind you, she has chosen to watch 2 videos in german – heidi and some crazy fairy story one.
As a family we have put up and decorated 2 christmas trees and got out the nativity scene. BB insisted the baby had to go in it as it might cry. i have been to a rather excellent planning meeting for the wednesdqay stuff, and chris is off to a planning meeting tomorrow. so, amidst the excitement of violin case buying, other stuff has happened!!

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, daubing and making, early maths skills, history, language, literacy, little languages, music, numeracy, pre reading, SB-PE, socialisation, Stringbean's HE, writing

Not where we planned to be!

Posted on November 29, 2008 by | 4 comments

i was thinking that we might be in yorkshire, but a number of events changed our plans somewhat, and we will be wending our way up on mon. not least is the total exhaustion i feel at the moment, and a couple of chilled days with the family seems to be a good plan.

hmm, thinking back to thurs and fri – obviously chris days as i got back from work v late both days. the normal things i think, the nots and tots group thurs, with crafting and recordering, but too late for frenching. then some gym for each in the pm. i think SB did some spelling and maths and maybe a piano, but not entirely sure! BB has done quite a bit of geomagging, and also making long neck dinodoors from the maize packing fillers in one of the boxes we had. friday they waited in interminably for my phone, and unfortunately meant a missed visit to a monks event, which sounded great. the phone came and had the back of it missing anyway! of course, when it arrived, chris nearly instantly found my old phone! after a great deal of fussing about – and i have complained via email re customer service – i now have a working phone – my old one on the old number. other than that, i think the whole day was spent tidying up, and it does look better for it, and the room of doom is a room of gloom instead as it just needs a bit of cleaning, but chris has organised most of it!

and so today . the big thing, i guess is SB’s grading for judo. it is her first ever grading, and she enjoyed it. i hadn’t realised you got to sit in, so BB and i stayed at home and chris took her. he snapped a couple of photos. After the grading they did a bit of shopping – including wellies and some christmas card making supplies – and had a treat lunch out to celebrate SB’s new white and red belt. it does seem to be enormously long ? adult size?

i have had insomnia most of the week, with a standard to sleep time of 5-ish and a get up of 7-ish. so am feeling in desperate need of sleep. i am also quite considerably grumpy – so another reason to try and get some sleep before being sociable! anyway, i was wondering how i would survive the morning with BB as i just didn’t have enough energy to power a biowatch. luckilly BB had some ideas! we made cuisinaire rod patterns, read books and then sorted out my 2 sewing boxes, which BB had great fun in dong, and is now the proud owner of the sewing box i was given when a child, and the pin/needle holder book i made whilst at infants school! following this BB chose to make happy maize pictures, and we have now run out of happy maize.

she then was v keen to do baking, so we did that, and made pink sugar sprinkles cupcakes, which were then iced with various greens. hmm! anyway, loads to take with me to yorkshire. we had a more boring lunch and i did a short violin practice which she danced to, before we read more books together all snuggled up. At this point chris and SB came home and mayhem ensued!

SO with a few card supplies, and the brass rubbings we did a while ago, we made a start on making cards, and between us have made 12 – so not bad! then a bit of grumpyness tidying up, followed by a bit more work on the secret santa things from the girls, as both decided they needed more paint. and actually they both look better for it. i think SB’s really is fab [even with one upside down zebra] and BB added some detailing to hers, which elevated it from looking like a paint accident to a design! SB did a piano practice with me, and had a go at a christmas carol she thought would be too difficult in a different book. SHe was very impressed she could play it [we 3 kings] so that was good. then she is making fudge [rather than tablet, which i prefer] and it is currently in the fridge. So more tidying and then bathtime, and i red meg et mog les oeufs de meg [or something similar!] which is Meg’s Eggs (Picture Puffin)
book in french from the little linguist shop that was fab at delivery times etc and comes recommended! and also hurry up molly, this subterfuge makes me seem interactive, yet doing something easy [reading] educating [french] and ensuring that for once the majority of the bath water stayed in the bath rather than cause further damage to dining room ceiling. fab!
dinner and the bedtime. i think i shall hope for sleep tonight. i feel i should be able to sleep for centuries! SB also at somepoint today fitted in some music theory.

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, Cooking, daubing and making, early maths skills, General, language, little languages, music, online resources, Out and About, pre reading, SB-PE, Stringbean's HE

shaking off the rain and making the most of things

Posted on November 26, 2008 by | 5 comments

as you can imagine, after yesterday, my black dog on the shoulder seems to have turned into a clydesdale horse! so i decided to be as computer free and child available as possible, with my facilitator hat on. it has actually meant we have had a v productive yet fun day, but i am totally bushwhacked from being so engaged! in reality, i think disappearing off to an alternate reality with a book might help my weariness, but not my heartache.

having fallen asleep [wayhay for actually sleeping] playing civ 4 last night – a go at alternate reality, but actually i prefered the earlier civs – i was woken up by bouncing children at 9.30. managed to keep them bouncing in a mole game, rather than having to get up straight away! On coming downstairs, SB and i started with piano practice together. now she isn’t playing the violin [and i v much miss that] we are making a concerted effort to practice the piano daily. this is already paying off! bB was a bit grumpy that i was doing piano practice with SB, so once she had got going on it i played the most dificult game of hangman with BB. she was in charge of the hang, and the only letter of the alphabet in her 17 letter word was 1 m! so i lost.

BB then leappadded, and chose the phonics series. being BB she chose number 7 rather than actually look at some of the letters of the alphabet! she is def going to learn to read her own way. she wants the dinosaur leappad book that sb has but never looks at. SB meanwhile was doing maths. they have got to thousands – woohoo and all! so she raced through that, as having grasped hundreds, tens and units, thousands is really just more of the same. SB then insisted on more ballet practice whilst BB said she was doing her ‘writing practice’ – ie squiggles on a white board! SB settled into some spelling – she enjoys these wizard whimstaff, and BB and i did a bit of piano fun. I then did some violin practice [faint!] as have strings. boy am i rusty!! i think i now have finger strain – rofl!! WHilst i was doing that, bB was quite happily following instructions on the brainbox primary electronics kit to make a ‘whizzer’ with only a little bit of support from SB.

After lunch it was baking time. SB chose a recipe of chocolate marzipan biscuits – something nice and complicated! and through the afternoon did it pretty much on her own. BB and i opted for the simpler peanut butter cookies. SImpler in recipe, but obviously complicated by BB’s desire to lick things all the time [so i have a series of spoons that are single use licking spoons to keep the biscuits edible!] and her sometimes idiosyncratic weighing and measuring :smile:

SB’s mixture had to rest for a while in the middle, so we all read one of my french books from the little linguist – berthe makes a pizza – which we loved. [here it is on amazon] and SB did a recorder practice. the new outerwear from muddypuddles arrived, so SB now has some camo trousers, my pink girl really has vanished! BB got a free glove puppet, so equally happy.

SB finished her biscuits whilst bb and i had a romp and read a book together, then we all had tea before SB went out to Judo. BB off to bed, and SB watched some nina and the neurons when she got back.

SO there you go, a busy day in our household! flickr pics of the day

oh, and any advice on trampolines. still humming and hawing. jumpking ovalpod oval vs bazoongi deluxe 12 foot with funring [ouch for more money, but ? its worth it?]

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, Cooking, Dance/drama, General, language, literacy, little languages, music, noises and sounds, numeracy, pre reading, SB-PE, science, Stringbean's HE, writing

Shall we dance?

Posted on November 24, 2008 by | 5 comments

And she did. SB was happy with the dancing exam, though she had done everything as well as she could. so we were all properly appreciative and cooked her ken hom for tea. i am really happy, as it looked for a while a bit shaky, and although i’m not bothered about her passing the exam, or doing really well, i am bothered about her being dejected, upset or put off if she fails. SO the week of 30 mins ballet practice a day appears to have paid off, and both BB and i are also much better at the steps! for her, she knew it was going to be fine, when the teacher watched her pas de basques and cifras and was happy with them. phew!! SO she had her first grade 3 lesson this pm with the others [though we obviously don't know the outcome of the exam]

in the morning i think she had done piano practice, ballet practice and book reading, and when i got home, after a blow by blow ballet re-enactment, we also did a quick piano review, and then BB and i did piano practice. bB was v keen to do ‘home ed’ with me, so we did a couple of pages of earlibird 1B and before the code 1. [before the code 1 does annoy me a bit, as it has k for kitten - but of course it looks like a cat! and also on a pick of a boy playing football and kicking a ball, bb was supposed to choose the letter k for kick. she chose f for football, so i was happy with that, but the 3 choices were k,f and b!]

All 3 of us sat in a huddle and read out book of opposites in french, and the SB came up with a game of me saying the french word, and her finding something that suited it ‘leger’ ‘grand’ ‘pousser’ etc. SO we had fun doing that. She still remembers her a droit and a gauche from saturday, and sunday we did french converstions in the car – including de quelle couleur est les arbres etc etc. so i am feeling french virtuous!

when SB went for ballet and brownies, bB requested fimo. She had an idea in mind [she does tend to the bossy...] and she wanted to make a christmas tree shaped christmas tree decoration, like SB made in the past. we didn’t have an exact match fimo green :roll: but she did settle eventually on one of the 3 [!] other fimo greens, and we each made a tree. she didn’t want a hole through it, so we will have to stick string on the back somehow. Then, sorting through our cookie cutter collection, she did a gingerbread boy, and i did a gingerbread girl, and we ‘branded’ them in mary and joseph wear. I think BB’s joseph might be more of the technicolour dreamcoat variety… i am always impressed by the care and detail that BB puts into crafts and arts. she spent some time getting it how she wanted to, and looking at mine and deciding what she liked in it, and doing something similar with hers.

fimo cooking, we read a couple of big picture books together, and then a red red nose reader for her to show me she can read [still keen on a ds] unfortunately, although she was convincing with the 3 big pigs, she forgot it was a wolf not a fox…

SB came back from ballet and brownies, and read some of this book Cracking Up: The Story of Erosion (Science Works): The Story of Erosion (Science Works)
, which she said was good, and now both are in bed.

Unfortunately my strings haven’t arrived yet. so i haven’t done any violin prac, and i have just realised i need to blog yesterday, and do some fiddling with time stamps! AND do a musical monday post – all go here!!

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Posted in Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, daubing and making, early maths skills, General, geography, language, literacy, little languages, music, noises and sounds, pre reading, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

not a snowy winter walk

Posted on November 23, 2008 by | Leave a comment

we woke up to snow, and were really hopeful that our monthly RSPB walk would be snowy, but then it rained and was just v cold! Whilst michelle and i did half empty glass brightkites, marcus was much more positive. and you know, he was right! apart from some setting out rain it was fine, and sunny in parts! by the end, my toes were a bit on the cold side though! BB had a walking crisis, but managed in the end!

i am getting ahead, we fitted in HE on the sly! we did a v short piano practice – for each girl, and did some french conversation for at least 30 mins in the car and french games. And, when we were at M and M’s SB did ballet practice.

AHA! i did nearly forget to blog that bB and SB had a delightful conversation about greenhouse gases in the car. currently, when sb grows up she is going to be a research scientist and sort out the problem with greenhouse gases. mms says bb, because they are naughty – yes says sb and does a bit of greenhouse gas talk and melting things. mm says bb, so it is good it has snowed because that sucks up the greenhouse gases, eerrrr, well not quite! v cute together anyway. bb is going to be a dinodoor bone finder btw! later bb decided the problem with greenhouse gases were that they were smelly! err, well, i guess some of them!

So we had a lovely fresh walk, with some coffee to warm up on the way. SB and C climbed trees – something they are rather keen on! well, one tree in particular, and then ran about a bit before going back to the car.

we went to M and M’s house for dinner, chat, world righting and the kids played well together, and lots of games. very nice evening, thanks v much!

now i just need to get flickring!!

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Posted in Dance/drama, General, language, little languages, music, noises and sounds, Out and About, pre reading, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

Black dog on my shoulder

Posted on November 22, 2008 by | 11 comments

and its being a bit resistant to shaking off. i am reasonably confident i can pinpoint the problem, but would like it to move off a bit.
anyway, to today. i find in a black dog kind of day, a bit of organised activity and lots of book cuddling helps, so thats what we went for.
Anyway, SB had agreed to a last violin practice for piccies and video ‘to see where she had got’ and she still appears to enjoy doing it when she’s doing it! but is absolutely definite that the only string instrument she wants to play is the piano.

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so there we go. we played christmas carols, she then decided to move on in the book and play the spiccato section. we then had a jolly christmas carol concert with me on the violin and she and BB on bells/tambourines and singing. SO there, i don’t understand, and I hope one day she doesn’t turn around and wished she had gone ahead, but she is clear for now she doesn’t want to play.

We then moved into ballet practice. I don’t know how good they need to be, but if the teacher thought the others in the class would pass, then i think SB might now as well. SHe has really worked hard at it. the videoing has been the best thing, and i am from now on always going to sneakilly video the term before the exam!

we went off to do some arts and crafts, which will feature in Helmsley secret santas, but it is only kiddie to kiddie! [nic, we changed slightly who we are doing between us to save WW6091] SB confused herself with starting the painting with the glass upside down, and then said it was ok, because she meant the zebra to be standing on its head…

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and they only have 3 legs because the other one is hidden behind one of the other legs, oK?? such is life on the savannah.

whilst the black outer was drying, we then all snuggled up and i read various story books and some french books to the girls. i made a dreadful mistake of suggesting we could have soup in mugs with straws watching raven in the playroom [as there was drying painting stuff all over the table] the rug paid for that with BB’s tomato soup! i was going to do some violin prac, but am temporarily a string less [and g string :roll: ] so am having to wait until wed – em, i am a little rusty!!

SB then did her arm drawing for sketch tuesday. i think it might be supposed to be real life ish, but ours isn’t! it is a multiarmed rainbow bug. BB did her glass painting – v carefully – and i finished what my secret santa thingy is! chris is the only one so far not to do it. SB was using watercolour pencils, and had a go at washing them over – which did work until she had had enough.

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He, however, was busy elsewhere, and has bought an xmas tree [for the village lights on the outside of our house] and has also put a shelf up in the room of doom cupboard. our new years resolution is that it should become the room of resources instead!

SB and BB both did piano practice with me. BB was insistant to do it properly as well. so she has started gbdf and ace. SB does also play the piano nicely and sight read some new music today.

we finished with dinner infront of tv as well [sounds a bit scandalous, 2 meals infront of the tv] and although we were going to watch Harry Potter, SB decided on wizard of oz instead! both girls storied and bedded, and i have spent some of my christmas money on games! contemplating shelving.

oh, and i have wasted tme making an amazon astore.

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Posted in art and crafts, Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, daubing and making, DIY/ house renovation, General, language, little languages, music, noises and sounds, photos, pre reading, Stringbean's HE

Sketch tuesday

Posted on November 11, 2008 by | Leave a comment

well, its monday here, preparing for sketch tuesday there.

SO today i went to work, and found that for some unknown reason clinic was cancelled, so i decided to agree to a day off [well, sort of, because i am doing tonight!]. ANyway, i came home and surprised the family and we did a whirlwind of catching up with HE! infact, we did so much so that i am lost for starting points!! Well, i think we started with reading BORN WITH A BANG: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story (Sharing Nature With Children Book), having recommended it on the EYHE forum. And yes, it is totally fab, and it does have fab illustrations. we had a read of the scientific bits at the back. SB is developing an enquiring mind, as she wanted to know how people knew that was true, so we discussed physics and maths experiments that pointed to the likelihood, and rediscussed the particle accelerator at CERN, in particular the hadron collider. we then looked into a book about the sun and black holes, Space, Stars, Planets, and Spacecraft (See & Explore)
, and we both got quickly lost with considering string theory – well, it is a bit to advanced, but she liked the idea that it was called a string, and TBH we didn’t do much more than a brief skid across the surface of an idea [i am not sure i could go particularly deep in it!]

SB did a fab violin practice. She practiced slurring, and then saw how many notes she could slur and string cross, so in fact most of the violin practice was having fun with this new skill! the practice was more than double our usual because of it!

in this time BB was happily jigsawing away, with me giving her the odd hand, but after the violin practice was sure it was her HE time!! SO SB settled herself with singapore 2B [last few pages] and BB did earlibird 1B, and then did some before the code whilst SB did Magical Skills: Ages 7-8: Spelling: Ages 7-8 (Magic Skills)
. She is really enjoying this series, so we might buy her the odd one or two more on other subjects! bB then did some pattern blocks and playing with little things making stories, whilst i read SOTW to SB on the subject of knights.

And then we had lunch :wink: very late!

After lunch we thought we would do some art, BB was v keen to make a rocket, and SB to do sketch tuesday [though a bit late!]. SO SB and i first investigated watercolour washes. [i must buy some more nice watercolours for us to do this properly!] and then over the arctic colour she hummed and hawed deciding which icy creature she wanted, initially thinking plankton, and working her way up to penguins. it meant she read a fair bit of Polar Wildlife (Usborne World Wildlife)whilst her wash dried! She did 2 versions of her drawing, and we emailed her favourite version off to be added [hopefully] to the group! We did a short bit of french altogether Bonne Nuit a Tous: Goodnight Everyone (I Can Read French) showing that SB does actually know more vocab than i thought she might!!

Gah, can’t get flickr pics to come here! will try again

BB meanwhile was doing some fab painting of her own, of a v colourful house, and then multicoloured butterfly prints. finally we made and painted her rocket whilst SB was at ballet [see below!] and then BB watched some 6 zoo lane whilst SB was at brownies, and we read books together, snuggled and tickled. oh, and she did a recorder practice – a couple of a’s and b’s!!

tea was curry in front of saturday’s merlin. A nice and full day i think! Keeping it so full, gave less chance for post weekend fallout day! 2 more chapters of pirates of pompeii to go!

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Posted in art and crafts, Books, Butterbean's HE, Dance/drama, daubing and making, early maths skills, General, geography, history, language, literacy, little languages, music, noises and sounds, numeracy, pre reading, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

busybees, science club and birthday parties.

Posted on November 6, 2008 by | 8 comments

oh, and woohoo to Barack Obama being the next president of the USA. It feels a v positive moment and I really hope that it turns out to be at least some of the wonderful that the moment promises!!

i got up and went into work before meeting chris and the girls at latinetc. i was there before him by some considerable time!! but all 4 families were there and i took the biguns off for water resistance and uplift thoughts – sorry gina for not having upgraded the section in the sidebar page on forces = will do it! it was, predictably, messy! All children appeared to enjoy it, and hopefully learnt something. snack time, and then i did it, but differently for the middle ones. even MORE messy! still enjoyed though. photos in usual place! the bigger ones got to do some latin as well. A nice lunch and then we all piled out in different directions. michelle and I going north for a birthday party.

we have teasingly said that BB one of muddlepuddle triplets, the others being Shannon on going against the flow [happy birthday for 3rd] and Josie on HE the puddle girls, whose birthday it was today [BB's due date, but i won't hold that grudge forever, well, maybe i might!!]. So we went to Josies house for a bonfire night birthday party and all had a lovely time. SB elected to stay there rather than go to judo [slightly naughty, and appropriately reprimanded for lack of commitment :grin: ]they pretty much all got on like a house on fire for the whole session. we adults had a good natter [well apart from Max, who did a good job of making party tea and enabling fran to sort out the birthday cake].

Max also did some wizardry with fireworks, and all the girls found them brill, though Ams and BB snuck indoors in wuss mode [they were v gentle fireworks! though one was a bit more bangy than the others] also toasted marshmellows and roasted chestnuts. yumm. Fran played a beautiful happy birthday on the cello too.

an easy drive home. as we were driving up, the other side of the carriageway was closed and some workmen appeared to be digging something off the road. on the drive home, all but one lane was closed, and road repairs were being done.

so, lovely day. chris has done something electricky in the loft and cellar while we have been out.

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Posted in General, language, little languages, Out and About, science, socialisation, Stringbean's HE

Christmas is coming

Posted on November 3, 2008 by | 5 comments

and the mincemeat is being made.

AArgh to christmas coming. why do i get so behind with christmas thoughts! pressies to get etc etc. its at our house again this year, we were going to have a break, but i’m working boxing day, so no point going to my parents to come back late on xmas day!

ANyway, I digress – well, i don’t really digress, as i haven’t started. I just am not feeling bloggable. I want the blog to just write itself, i like a record of what we do to look back on. i am barely using the camera either. obviously something is not quite right!

SB is more cheery these days [ or else i have got used to her wails and abrupt emotional changes/fragility] she is more stroppy as well. perhaps this is an age and growth thing. i do love having my mostly happier girl back again. She is talking ten to the dozen again, it is often like being in a wind tunnel! [and yes, I do know pressure of speech is a psychiatric term!] SHe tells me her ideas, what she has done, how tshe thinks the world works, and is alive again. phew. I am sure we are not out of the doldrums completely [as her wail about not going to the shop to buy a magazine shows, she is v quick to be desolate], but i no longer have her tell me she doesn’t see the point of being alive. BB is a squirmy armful of self confidence, bounciness, determination and joy. she is grasping the world around her and making it work her way! i love how she has such a clear way of describing things, and using her older sisters vocab to strengthen the emphasis on what she wants to say, and also the gestures and facial expressions! nearly 4! how time flies.

SO this weekend i have been working, but not too busily. The girls have done a fair bit of playing and also HE stuff. we are castle reading in our history at the mo – always a fun thing to play and recreate! SB is doing lots of spelling practice and maths – she hopes to finish her 2B book in time for when the MPAH 3A arrives [she prefers the MP as opposed to the primary maths which i prefer!]. She has also done music theory and 2 violin practices with me. BB is really grasping sounding out words as they are said. she doesn’t know the alphabet and scanty letters, but is good on the sounds and joining them together. we have done a fair bit of the before the code book 1, and today when we were going to do it together she told me she could do her home ed stuff by herself, and did!

thurs was a divali day at nots and tots, which they enjoyed. SB mostly played with L and E, and BB mostly did the crafts. they went on to a fun playdate afterwards, which both were v keen to tell me how much they had enjoyed it. So that was good.

fri was already blogged by chris – SB was v scary i think. she had been desperate to buy the mask, and I agreed as long as she made the costume to go with it out of an old sheet – she had the idea to bespatter it with blood. Was so excited to have the costume and rarred at lots of people in it, and was most impressed with the squeeze the heart thing. BB got fed up with her costume, so we tore the eye holes so that she could poke her whole head through, and then she was a much happier little ghost.

SB got this book from the library.The Magician of Samarkand
i would strongly recommend it [as would SB] and we will look for more books by that author. it is one of our favourites on junior jackanory, and the book itself is written beautifully. we love!!

we have done some french reading and conversation. following a recommendation on another blog, i purchased some more french resources, and we are doing the l’art de dire. I like it. i guess this bit could easily be made up and done with someone confident in french – which I am not! and there may be cheaper alternatives [luckilly i bought before all the currency turmoils through canadian relatives!] but actually i think it is deceptively simple, in that initially i wondered what i had spent my money on [ i bought the lire ones at the same time, and they are more obviously a good buy for that kind of thing] but as i use it to formalise our conversation, both SB and BB seem to be getting on well, and I have more confidence to extrapolate and experiment. you know, by the time i have finsihed home edding, i might be able to speak french! i did suggest to deepend Katy that she could prob write a home-ed conversational french package and have a market ready! I think she may be lacking in time though!! we are still using a various books and reading lots in french.

today we started making mincemeat using Delia Smith’s Christmas
. it worked well last year, and smells gorgeous! unfortunately with the nutmeg grating, there was a small amount of SB grating… never mind!!

what else? ermm, both girls have done lots of playing. BB loves her little things to play with, so will no doubt love her sylvanians – though still tempted by those rather glorious anamalz for her birthday! am thinking what to get other children for presents as well, and yes, christmas is coming!! [i think that may be where this blog started!]

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